Data storage systems and methods for storing data are described herein. An intermediate storage system is coupled with a High Performance Computing (HPC) system. A plurality of burst engines of the intermediate storage system are directly connected to compute nodes of the HPC. The burst engines are operative to receive file level data from the compute nodes at data transfer rates that at least match to the burst mode output rate of the compute node. The burst engines store the data to high bandwidth storage devices of the intermediate storage system at a data rate that at least matches the burst output rate of the compute node. During a compute phase of the compute node, data is replayed from the intermediate storage devices to a primary storage system at a lower data transfer rate.